Monday, November 19, 2012

The largest search
engine in China, Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR)(NASDAQ:BIDU) has stated on Monday that
it would offer 30 GB of free cloud storage to all Android devices that operate
of specific QUALCOMM, Inc.(NASDAQ:QCOM) chips will be making a prominent
presence in the mobile services sector after a move taken by the company.

Baidu’s offer is valid
for a limited period of time. It applies in China to two latest chips of
Qualcomm, the Snapdragon S4 MSM 8 x 25Q processor and Snapdragon S4 MSM 8 x 25
processor. Users, who are activating the cloud service offered by Baidu will
get 15 GB of free cloud storage over the lifetime of the device and also an
extra of 15 GB free storage valid for an year.

From Monday, Chinese
handset manufacturers including Huawei and Lenovo will start shipping the
devices along with free cloud storage service from Baidu that has been possible
due to collaboration with Qualcomm.

Baidu is offering the
storage free of charge after the company had declared in September that the
mobile internet space is its next major focus. It had also announced that a
$1.6 billion venture can build a new cloud computing centre.

Baidu is famous as the
leader of PC-based search market in China. It bested competitor Google. However, in the mobile Internet market of
China, Baidu has not yet achieved the same level of dominance as competition
among rivals get heated up.

Baidu has already a
major traction among the smartphone users in China by having its search feature
pre-installed on Apple and Android devices that are sold in the country. It is
also collaborated with companies like Dell to introduce three handsets in China
that come with Baidu cloud platform featuring online browser, mapping services,
music and much more.

Baidu’s partnership
with Qualcomm on Monday brings Baidu’s cloud storage to devices operating on
Android, as per Kaiser Kuo, a spokesman of Baidu.